>These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of the verb learn. Both are acceptable, but learned is often used in both British English and American English, while learnt is much more common in British English than in American English.

>Learnt and learned are both used as the past participle and past tense of the verb to learn. Learned is the generally accepted spelling in the United States and Canada, while the rest of the English-speaking world seems to prefer learnt.

I'm going to put a Harvard Student Contact down because that's how I learned about Harvard but I don't know the Harvard Student Contact well. Don't want them to ask him about me lol so it's a relief that it's just for marketing purposes.

Not all of us learned English in America, and although it is the nation with the most English-speakers, the US does not set the standard on spelling rules, which every admissions officer will (or at least should) know. "Learnt" is a perfectly acceptable synonym for "having acquired knowledge."

I don't like what you're insinuating ... I'd never heard of Harvard before this contact, you know? As someone who's obsessed about the college admissions process, Harvard was totally just unknown to me...

I wasn't insinuating anything. Sorry if my post was misunderstood. Harvard is so well known throughout the world that I was saying you could make it simple and avoid the whole issue of the contact. But if you had never heard of it, that's different.

@lordrohan731 So, um, how did you first hear about Harvard? Not that I really care that much, but the question seems to be hanging in the air. I think I've known about Harvard for as long as I've known about colleges. The only schools I knew of outside of the US as a child were Cambridge and Oxford.

Here's my take on the situation: Looking through your post history you've posted the following

1. I'm planning on applying to transfer to Stanford/other universities as an international student from the UK.

2. I got a prestigious internship at an investment bank. 4500 applicants applied for 100 intern spots so I'm proud that I was able to land one

3. I've interned with this MP and he knows me very well. He happens to be knighted by the Queen for his dedication to serving his country.

4. One of the transfer questions is: "briefly discuss a book that has influenced you." The current book I'm thinking of writing about is "the unintended consequences of section 5 of the civil rights act" by Edward Blum.

5. I'm not really expecting to get in anywhere to be honest. I'm just applying much like the other 2000 people who applied.

In the process of asking all these questions, you've been given advice by Harvard students, Harvard parents, and one poster who works in the admissions office at one of the ivies -- and you've disregarded much of the advice. IMHO, you have absolutely no idea what Harvard is looking for from a transfer student -- and you've demonstrated all of that from the questions and comments you've posted.

Here's the question you need to answer for yourself (and please don't try to respond here): What can Harvard offer you that you are not getting from your current university and can be found ONLY at Harvard (not at Stanford or any other university)? Transfer students who can successfully answer that question will be put at the top of the Harvard Admissions transfer acceptance list.

Right, and your OP question is well-taken. Maybe it's something that they only ask foreign transfer applicants for marketing purposes, as skieurope said above. Still, I think Harvard asking that is odd considering that they are so well-known.